Skillr Profile: Tracy Justynski
Tracy Justynski is a chef who helps people throw out the rules and bring their own individuality to the kitchen on the SKILLR App. Tracy spoke with us about being a student of life, her favorite dishes to cook and the Japanese art of imperfection.
Alexa Goins: So to start out, could you tell me your name and what you do on SKILLR?
Tracy Justynski: So my name is Tracy Justynski and I am a chef. So I am one of your SKILLR chef experts.
Alexa Goins: Awesome. And how did you get into your field?
Tracy Justynski: So I've been doing it for 22 years now and I've always, since I was a kid, I loved messing around in the kitchen. My mom actually doesn't cook pretty much at all, but both my grandmothers were great cooks and growing up, I saw them cooking and my mom not cooking at all. And we went to a lot of restaurants and things like that. So I've always been fascinated by cooking. I never thought I was going to go into it as a career until my first boyfriend suggested because I didn't go to college.
Tracy Justynski: And at that time I was working at a record store back when there were record stores and I was really into music and I wanted to do something in that arena and, but I'm also very into science and I just didn't know what I wanted to do. And he noticed that I was always very happy and exuberant when I was in the kitchen. So he was like, "Why don't you do that? It's something that you always love to do. You're good at." And so I went to culinary school and I haven't turned back since. So it's been now 22 years.
Alexa Goins: That's a cool story.
Tracy Justynski: Yeah.
Alexa Goins: What's your favorite thing about teaching people about cooking?
Tracy Justynski: I just like getting people excited. I mean, I love to learn. I'm a huge nerd. I try to learn something new every single day and I love to share the things that I've learned over time and just, yeah, getting people excited, passionate about something. Learning something new, what makes you feel good and sharing that with somebody else, I think is a cool gift to have. Because they can take it with them anywhere they go, they can twist it and make it their own and they can share it with other people. And that's why I love the concept of this app too, is that it's just people sharing stuff that they've learned and what a great means to do it.
Tracy Justynski: And you can do it from anywhere, which is so cool that we have that technology to do so. So yeah. Basically I like to get people's engines revved up. I like to see the excitement in somebody's eyes too when they finally get something because I know it can be frustrating learning something new. And but when someone finally gets it or they're amped on something, that's the part that I love the most about teaching people.
Alexa Goins: Yeah. It sounds like it's one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching someone anything just like-
What you said sort of brings us into another question that I have, which is so SKILLR is a platform about and growing. So I'm curious, what's one thing you're learning about or interested in learning more about right now?
Tracy Justynski: Like I said so much. I am always, I'm a student of life and I'm interested in so many different things, but even on the app itself, I'm interested if I could learn how to sing because I love music or instruments, but I also love right now I'm really into foraging and being a chef and over the pandemic, my business basically went down to nothing. And I'm lucky though that I live right next to this mountain and I've just been hiking every day. And I started learning about mushrooms and berries and different things that grow in the wild. Medicinal purposes for different plants and foods and really trying to connect how food can really be medicine. Like Hippocrates the saying is let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food. I've kind of been following that kind of philosophy and really learning more about that.
Tracy Justynski: Learning about how food can really help change our lives. Not only how we feel, but also in the world, how we're getting our food. People are way more concerned about that these days, which I love. Not only are they concerned about what they're eating, but how it got to them and how it affects the environment, how it affects our connection with nature and all of those things. So I'm just I'm constantly learning about so much stuff. Too much to even begin. But those are a few things that I'm really focused on right now.
Alexa Goins: That's great. What you said about being a student of life is just so important. And I think it's interesting that you mention it because even though you're several decades into your career, you're still finding new ways to learn specific things that within that little umbrella of cooking and being a chef-
... foraging. And so I just think that's so important. Just always learning. Even when you are an expert in something you're still finding ways to-
Tracy Justynski: You never stop learning in life. And that's very important because once you kind of shut off knowledge, then you're getting close minded and nobody likes a know-it-all. And I don't think anybody does know it all. So anybody who actually does is kind of like getting themselves. But knowledge to me is like a drug. It's like, I want more, I want more. And I also am the type that I like to live each day like there's no tomorrow, but also I like to learn as if I'm going to live forever. And that means constantly everyday learning. And I learn not just from experts. I learn from even my godchildren will show me something and I'll be like, wow, I never looked at it that way or I never... So you can learn from anybody from any kind of walk of life. It doesn't matter how old you are, what skill level you have. We can always be learning from each other and sharing that knowledge is key to opening up different perspectives and views.
Alexa Goins: Another question I have is what would you say to people who want to learn more about cooking, but don't know where to get started? Maybe they're nervous, confused.
Tracy Justynski: I mean, just like with anything else, starting something new is always a little bit nerve wracking and can be intimidating. My advice would be just jump in and do it. And the thing is, if you have no desire to do it, you're not going to want to do it and it's not going to be a good experience. So take it slow. And don't expect to be a five star chef right off the bat, because everything takes practice. So, and I am somebody who's been doing this for 22 years now and I still mess up all the time. I think of cooking as kind of like it's you're experimenting. So think of yourself like a mad scientist doing an experiment. Sometimes the experiments go wrong, right. But that's how you learn actually. You learn more through your mistakes actually than you do your successes. So don't be afraid to fail and just have fun with it. It's food. It's not that serious. I always like, I'm in the only industry where I can eat my mistakes and just move on and no big deal.
Alexa Goins: I love that. I feel like that can apply to life. It's just a new way of looking at mistakes in any aspect. What's your favorite dish to cook right now?
Tracy Justynski: Ooh. Favorite dish to cook? I have a huge sweet tooth, so I always love making sweets, but I also love pizza. I mean, pizza to me is like so fun to make and you could throw anything on a pizza and it's probably going to be good. And who doesn't like pizza? So probably pizza is my favorite thing to make because it's easy, it's quick and it's just satisfying all around. Or something sweet.
Alexa Goins: What's your favorite dessert to make?
Tracy Justynski: Favorite dessert? Oh my God. I've been a pastry chef. So my career has run the gamut of so many different things. I've worked in restaurants. I've worked in hotels. I've even worked in a hospital. I've been a private chef. Now I work for myself. So I'm self-employed and I do private events. I've done catering. I've been a pastry chef. I've done weddings. I've done you name it I've explored it. So, but pastry has always been a deep love of mine because I love the artistry in it. And like I said, huge major sweet tooth bordering on like addict sweet tooth. So I'm trying to kind of reign that in a little bit. One of the things I'm working on personally, but it's just, I'm also looking up ways of trying to make healthy pastries because now that I'm getting older, I realize I can't eat like I'm 12 years old like I used to.
Candy, sweets, cakes, cookies, and yeah, but now I'm in my forties. So I'm like, I don't want to be diabetic. So I've been constantly practicing now of trying to make sweets out of healthy foods, like sneaking in vegetables, not doing a lot of added sugar, using only natural sweeteners and things like that. So that's probably my favorite thing right now is when I'm using all these healthy ingredients to make something sweet and when it actually turns out and it actually tastes good, that's like, it's rare, but I'm always working at it and trying to go as plant based as possible. Ethically sourced ingredients and things like that. So I like to incorporate all the things that I'm an advocate for and throw it together into something tangible and tasty that looks good, taste good. That's something that I experiment with basically on the daily. So those are my favorite things. When I get something right and I can see other of people are enjoying it too, and then I know that it's healthy too. I'm like, yes. I'm like that one's going in the bank. That one's going in the book.
Alexa Goins: I'm going to have to book you for a healthy dessert.
Tracy Justynski: Yeah.
Alexa Goins: Experimentation.
Tracy Justynski: Yeah. You could tell me, these are some of my favorite foods, what can we do with this? Or if there's a particular dessert, I mean, I know how to do it all. Like I said, I've done wedding cakes, I've done dessert menus for fancy restaurants, for bakeries, I've done it all. You want to learn to make pot de creme, creme brulee, all the basic classics, I know that. Or we could just go on the fly and you could say, "Hey, this is what I have in my kitchen." That's one of the things I love I do with friends sometimes. I'll just go through their cupboards and just make something with what they have. They'll be like, "I don't have anything. I can't make it." And I go, I'm like "Guaranteed I'll make something from what you have here." And I kind of just like utilizing what you have. So you could even say, "Hey, I want to make something with this. And this is what I got. What can we do? Or I want to learn how to make bread pudding." You name it. I got you.
Alexa Goins: I love that. One last question.
Is there anything else that you want people to know about you as they're downloading the app and maybe looking for help with cooking?
Tracy Justynski: I have a lot of energy as you can see, I'm like-
Alexa Goins: You have great energy. I love it.
Tracy Justynski: I'm a bit of a spazz sometimes. I'm trying to tone it down a little bit, but it's just that's how I am. I'm kind of like an energetic amped person. I like coming up with new creative ways of doing things. So sometimes I'll take a traditional method of doing things and I'll twist it. I don't think there's a right and wrong way necessarily. So there's the way that I learned. And there's several ways to get to the same end result. So my style kind of, I guess you would say is that I go through the scientific processes of how I learned how to do things, but I also like to creatively twist them.
And so I'm kind of like, I'm not a stickler to rules. I'm a rule breaker. I like to break rules and do things in a different way. So that's something I'd like people to know about my style and you don't have to necessarily, you do things exactly the way that I do them. Do them your own way. And that's the cool thing about cooking is once you learn a technique, you can take that and make it your own.
Alexa Goins: This is true.
Tracy Justynski: There's no rules. Sometimes people think it's so structured and sometimes I've worked under chefs, especially in the beginning of my career who were so strict and stoic into the book and this is the way to do it. And this is the traditional way. And this is the tried and true method. I'm not like that. I'm the one who's always like, but maybe we can do it this way. Or what if we did this? And some people like somebody who's more structured, I'm not as structured like that. I'm kind of like, I like to keep an open mind and think maybe you can prove, maybe you can create a new way to do something. Sometimes, I've been teaching somebody something and they made me think of something I wouldn't have thought of before. And it gives me ideas. So actually I'm learning by helping to teach you. So I'm also learning new things too, which I love that aspect of it as well.
Alexa Goins: Yeah. I imagine not being so stuck on rules keeps it fun and exciting.
Tracy Justynski: Yes. It also makes for more mistakes though. But, like I said-
Alexa Goins: You can eat the mistakes.
Tracy Justynski: ... eat your mistakes. That's life. Life is you make mistakes. It's about where do you take it from there? How do you take your mistakes? That kind of determines who you are as a person too. Is just one mistake going to make you want to give up? If that were the case I would've given up so long ago, but me, I'm just I feel like I'm just the collection of mistakes, but I'm learning from them and I'm growing from them and I'm getting better every day because of those mistakes. Had I not made those mistakes, maybe I wouldn't have learned something from it.
Alexa Goins: I love that. I am a recovering perfectionist. So I like to hear that.
Tracy Justynski: I like to embrace the imperfections and I'm down with have you ever heard of Wabi-sabi?
Alexa Goins: No. What is that?
Tracy Justynski: Wabi-sabi is the art of imperfection. And so there is an art imperfection and it's all about embracing. And the thing that makes things interesting is their imperfections. So everything in life in Wabi-sabi is telling you that everything is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. So, and if you kind of accept that and approach life in that way, that everything is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete, then it kind of like, it sets your perspective in standards differently. So you're kind of, you embrace that. Even let's see, where's my coffee mug here. I love things that are broken. Even my coffee cup right here, it's got a chip in it.
The Japanese have a whole style of pottery that they take a chipped piece of china and then they kind of embellish the imperfections because most people would be like, "Oh it's chipped. It's broken, throw it away, get a new one." No, you can embellish that. And same with, I find I take that as my approach to how I am with myself too, that I'm like, yeah, of course I'm not perfect. Of course I have a bajillion flaws and I can pick myself apart of those flaws or I can look at all those flaws and say that's actually what makes me me. That's what makes me cool, is all the flaws.
Tracy Justynski: If I didn't have them, then I'd just be like a robot, or just like a cardboard cut out of a person, a shell of a person that wasn't really real. I like the real, I like the imperfect, and the incomplete, the broken, all that stuff. Embracing that I think that's what life is all about and makes you happier and also embrace other people's imperfections too. It makes you kind of appreciate them and see them in a different light when you actually are like, you know what that is cool. I don't know.
I can get into philosophy and all that stuff. Me and my dad, my dad's a little bit of a Renaissance man and an artist and me and him can go for hours and hours talking about all different kind of ways of life and things like that. And that's why I was telling you, I'm a student of life. I am constantly learning, but always every day trying to be a little bit better than the person I was yesterday. So that's kind of cool when you look at it that way, because even if it's so something small, every day, you're just getting little more nuggets of knowledge, getting a little bit more interesting, getting a little bit more understanding, getting a little bit more compassionate.
And so that's kind of cool. It makes it seem like every day is a journey and an adventure and to see where it can take you, because you never know. One person also could inspire you to do something really cool and interesting. And that's another thing that's brilliant about this app too, is that you never know what that interaction is going to do. Maybe you can help inspire somebody [inaudible 00:25:34]. It's like the sharing of that and the one on one conversation. It knows no bounds.
Alexa Goins: Yeah. That's true. I'm going to have to look up. Did you say it was Wabi-sabi?
Tracy Justynski: Wabi-sabi. W-A-B-I S-A-B-I. And yeah, it's a philosophy and way of thinking that I've really hung onto and I even have it tattooed on my arm, so I don't forget.
Alexa Goins: Oh really? That's cool. No, it seems like a new way of seeing.
Tracy Justynski: What's that?
Alexa Goins: It seems like a new way of seeing and looking at mistakes.
Tracy Justynski: Yeah. It's a good way to think, especially because it makes you less hard on yourself and also not as hard and judgmental on others. It's being compassionate with yourself and with other people. So if that's the way you look at things, it's a cool approach.
Alexa Goins: Yeah. It's very humanizing.
Tracy Justynski: Yes. And that's what we are. We're human. So we have to be nicer to each other. To me, I just always think, is it really that hard just to be nice to each other? Sometimes I guess it is a challenge depending on what other forces are coming at you. But to me when it comes down to it, embrace those imperfections and realize that a lot of times too, I'll be like, you know what? I don't know what that person is grappling with in their life. And I also keep that in mind too and always be in gratitude for whatever it is that life throws my way and see what the lesson that is supposed to be learned. Because I always think of, even if things don't turn out the way that I planned, I'm like, well, what can I do with what it is now? What is the lesson to be learned here? And what is my approach?
Alexa Goins: That's a good way to look at it. I don't have any other questions, but this was such a lovely conversation. Thank you so much.
Tracy Justynski: You're very welcome. It was so nice to talk to you and like I said, anytime if you want to do a little cooking lesson, hit me up on the app girl.
Alexa Goins: Yeah, we can cook and we can talk about Wabi-Sabi some more.
Tracy Justynski: We can talk about Wabi-Sabi. Oh my God I can go off and talk and talk. We can start off making a souffle and then who knows where the conversation is going to end up? You never know. That's the thing, I can start off on one thing and I can kind of get on tangents. You could probably already tell that.
Alexa Goins: I've loved listening to you.
Tracy Justynski: But it's always just in the good spirit of sharing information and things like that.
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